Tech Tips

Chrome extensions can be wonderful. These can add great functionality to the Chrome browser. Unfortunately, Chrome extensions can also be used by those with ill intent. Recently, we have seen a rash of employees having trouble with their browsers due to installing a Chrome extension. Many of these users didn’t even realize that they installed the extensions. For instance, I received this email just the other day:

FYI

When I posted my blog today, three advertisement links popped up

The teacher who sent this had installed several extensions that “helpfully” added advertisements. (This was not helpful at all.)

I also received this one:

For some reason my browser has been acting up and will not let me go to google images. Can I please get this fixed? It says “web page blocked” when I try to open a new tab in chrome.

This employee had installed several extensions as well. One of those extensions redirected his searches to a site that purely provides advertisements.

Currently, we don’t restrict employees from the extensions that they can add. Students are restricted. Extensions must be approved by the district before a student can install an extension.

Installed extensions (Ads)

Here is a list of some extensions that employees have installed:

Ad Offers by GameDaddio

Ad Offers by GamesChill

Ad Offers by MapsScout

Advertising by Entrality

Advertising Offers by PlayZiz

ArcadeFiesta Advertising

ArcadeFrontier Ads

ArcadeStar Advertising

Ball Pin Pal Ad

Battle Terrain Advertising

BoredPlay Advertising

BrainyZanyGames ads

You can see a general trend here (and we didn’t even make it out of the B’s).

Why is this a problem?

Ad sites frequently send the user to a different place. As you can see from the emails above, this can lead to frustration. This is also a potential security risk. As the bad actors get more sophisticated, the potential for harm increases.

Checking for Extensions:

Click on the three buttons in the top right-hand corner of the Chrome browser (to the right of your picture/avatar)

Select “More tools…”

Select “Extensions” from the pop out

This will open a new page. This page will list all of the extensions that you have installed. The page of extensions will also allow you to remove any extensions that you don’t want (unless the extension is District installed). The example below is an example of 1Password as an extension (note the “Remove” button).

*1Password is a “paid for” extension that I purchased.

District Installed Extensions

The District can “force” install extensions. The only one that we are currently installing is Clever.

District Approved Extensions

In addition to the Student Approved Extensions, we are currently comfortable with the following:

Google Cast for Education – allows teachers to have students screen share to a projector (via desktop)

WAVE – review ADA compliance of a website

Hypothes.is – annotation for the web

We will be reviewing Extensions over the next few months.

Apps vs Extensions

Just to confuse things more, individuals can also install Chrome Apps. Although these will appear similar, extensions enhance the Chrome browser. Apps run within the browser. For your purposes, you can consider them the same.

Changes this Summer

Starting this summer, all extensions will need to be whitelisted in order to be installed. This will include staff as well as students. Starting this summer, any Chrome extension (or App) not approved will be removed. Currently, we are reviewing the extensions and Apps installed by all users.

Due to feedback from teachers, we have made some adjustments to the default settings on Quizzes in iLearn.

We know that timely feedback is one of the most powerful instructional strategies. Moodle allows for teachers to provide timely, specific feedback. Providing that feedback while students are working through quiz can assist students in learning. However, also have listened carefully to how teachers are currently using Quizzes and what they expect. It is through working with teachers that we have made the changes to the defaults. Please remember that these are the defaults. These can be changed and adjusted by the needs and use of the teacher. If your situation calls for providing instant feedback (i.e. if you are using a Quiz for students to review/practice), you can easily turn on the Specific feedback.

Teachers have the option to enter Specific feedback, General feedback and Overall feedback. These are great opportunities to communicate with students in an efficient manner.

Feedback Times:

iLearn allows for that feedback to happen at four different times for a quiz:

During the attempt – is only available when ‘ How questions behave ’ has been set to ‘ Immediate feedback ’, ‘ Immediate feedback with CBM ’ or ‘ Interactive with multiple tries ’. If set to one of these options then a ‘ Check ’ button will appear below the answer and when clicked the student will submit that response and then receive immediate feedback.

Immediately after the attempt –means within 2 minutes of the student clicking “submit all and finish”.

Later, while the quiz is still open – means after 2 minutes, but before the close date (if the quiz does not have a close date, this phase never ends).

After the quiz is closed – means what it says (you never get here for quizzes without a close date).

Feedback Type

Additionally, iLearn allows for the following information to be conveyed:

The attempt – Will show how the student responded to each question.

Whether correct – Displays whether the students response to each question is correct or incorrect*.

Points – The numerical points for each question and the overall attempt score.

Specific feedback – Will show the feedback for the response to the answer as set when adding the question to the quiz. Each response to a question can have feedback for both correct and incorrect answers. This is entered by the teacher in the appropriate section of each question. (*noted as one of the most powerful instructional strategies).

General feedback– Displays the general feedback for the whole question as set when adding the question to the quiz. You can use the general feedback to give students some background to what knowledge the question was testing.

Right answer – Reveals the correct answer to each question, whether the student answered correctly or not

Overall feedback – Displays feedback for the entire quiz as set in the quiz settings

The new defaults will just show the student their answer while they are attempting the quiz. After they have attempted the quiz, it will students will see points and overall feedback, but nothing specific. After the Quiz is closed, students would receive feedback on why their answers are correct or not (if entered by the teacher).

Support

Please know that the Tech Coaches are available to assist you in utilizing iLearn for student achievement. You can reach out to them on their blog.

*Note: Currently, the Answers display is a bit inconsistent between different question types. For example, the matching question type shows students which of their responses are correct, but does not tell them the right answer for the ones they got wrong. The short answer and multiple choices question types do tell the student what the correct answer is.

Need to run spell check in Google Docs? Now it’s easier than ever. There is now a button between the printer and format painter to quickly check spelling. This will produce a panel on the right with suggested options.

One File, Two Folders

Sometimes, it can be beneficial to have one Google Document in two different folders. Maybe you are meticulous about organizing your files, but you have a file that could easily be in two different folders.

This can happen when you are collaborating with one group and need to give another group access to the document in a specific folder (for the sake of organization).

*Please note that files can’t be added to Team Drives; they must be moved.

Fortunately, this is easy to do.

Click once on the file that you want to “add” to a different folder (the file should be highlighted in blue).

On your keyboard, press the following keys: Shift + Z.

The “Add” window will open.

Navigate to the folder that you want to “Add” the document to. (Note that you will get an > symbol to navigate deeper into folders).

Click “ADD” (this will say “ADD HERE” until you select a folder).

Note that this will mean that there will only be one document. Any changes to the document will be reflected in both folders. Also note that the privileges on that document will be the highest privileges of any document.

Let’s say that you create a Google Doc called “My Great Document” in a folder titled “My Team Work”. Then, you are asked to place this document in a “District Team Work” folder that is shared with lots of people with Editing privileges. Using the method above, you create a link to “My Great Document” and add that to the “District Team Work” folder. Anyone who has editing rights to the “District Team Work” folder will also have editing rights to “My Great Document”.

Removal

Need to remove the file from one folder but not the other?

Simply locate the file (it doesn’t matter which folder).

Click on once to select it.

Click on the i in a circle to reveal the details of the file.

Click the X to the right of the folder from which you want to remove.

Two Files, Two Folders

Please note if you want to share a document, but not have the original affected, you can use the File | Make a copy option. That will make a copy of the file at the moment in time. Any changes on one copy will NOT be reflected on the other.

Well, I’m surprised by this one. Google Docs has seen a recent update that brings columns as an option. Now, you can format your Google Docs with up to three columns. Simply pick “Columns” from the Format menu item.

Introducing HiveSchool.

HiveSchool is a connected learning application that lets teachers provide an engaging, collaborative and effective learning experience for their students.

The application enables teachers to present digital content to the class, monitor student activity, keep students on task and assign a variety of learning resources. Designed for ease of use, it requires only a very short learning curve for teachers and students.

Highlights

Presents digital content to the class – from the teacher’s or a student’s computer.

Live view of student screens, to monitor student activity.

Lets teachers control student activity to keep the class on task.

Easy management of teaching resources

Visual, intuitive class dashboard

I’ve written up a HelpSheet, but I need feedback to improve it before sending it out to all teachers.

Some students have complained that a headset (headphones) won’t work with a Chromebook. Usually, there is a very easy fix:

When using a headset with a Chromebook, the user may need to specifically choose the headset. In other words, by default the Chromebook will play sounds through the internal speaker, even when a headset is plugged in.

If a headset is plugged in, but the user is not hearing sounds:

Make sure the headset is fully plugged in.

Click on the time in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. A menu will pop up.

Disable downloading, printing, and copying of any Google Drive file

This new option is available for any file stored in Google Drive, including documents, spreadsheets, and presentations created with Google Docs.

To enable this feature, open the sharing dialogue from any Google document, spreadsheet, presentation, or other file in Drive on the web and click on Advanced in the lower right hand corner. Check the ‘Disable options to download, print, and copy for commenters and viewers’ box and click Save changes.

Notes:

This feature can be enabled by file owners only, and on the web only

Once this feature is enabled, all entry points for downloading, printing, and copying will be removed from Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides on all platforms.

Google documents, spreadsheets, and presentations for which this feature has been enabled will show a notification at the top of the File and Edit menus

Passwords:

A few thoughts on passwords:

Passwords are a necessary evil. Someday, there will be a better system. In the meantime…

Although we generally advise against using the automatic save feature in browsers, we understand why some users use them. It is better than writing down your password on a post it note and hanging that from your monitor. Having the browser save your password can be a time saver. This does come with security issues though. Once you sign in to the computer, if you leave your browser open and someone is sitting at your computer, they would have access to any sites that you’ve saved in the browser.

Please be aware that for many of our users, once they save a password in the browser, they then forget the password. This can cause trouble when the password needs to be changed. If you need to change your password, here is how you can find it:

Chrome:

Click on the “Hamburger” button (3 lines along the right side of the browser window)

Select “Settings”

Scroll down and select “Show advanced settings…”

In the Passwords and forms section, select “Manage passwords”

Search for the password or scroll through the list

Click on the dots following the URL of the site (a “Show” button will appear)

Click the “Show” button.

You should be prompted for your password (the one that you used to sign into the computer). enter your password.

Your password will be revealed. You can now click on “Show” any of the other passwords to reveal those as well.

Clicking on the X at the end will delete the entry (thus, your password will not be saved for that site.

Click “Done” at the bottom of the window.

Close the tab.

FireFox

Click on the “Hamburger” button (3 lines along the right side of the browser window).

Click on “Options”

Click on Security

Click on “Saved passwords”

Search or scroll to find the URL of the site you want to see the password

Click the “Show password” button

Click “Yes” to the pop up “Are you sure that you want to show your passwords”

Warning: this will display all of your passwords

* To delete passwords, click on the URL and then click on the Remove button.

Click “Close”

(There are better ways of managing your passwords. I personally use 1Password. This is not free, but it does allow me to have super secure passwords everywhere. LastPass is a free option (with pay to sync with mobile devices) that will do mostly the same thing).

Please remember to check your Spam folder in your email occasionally. Sometimes, legitimate email gets “caught” in the Spam filter. This is especially true when a large amount of email is sent out (especially if it includes links). One example would be email that was recently sent from ACT.

Spam is automatically deleted every 30 days. Thus, it is a good idea to check the Spam folder every couple of weeks (hint: a recurring event every 2 weeks on your calendar can be a good reminder).

To check your Spam folder, just click on the Spam tag (probably about 6 tags below the Inbox on the left hand pane of Gmail. I generally scroll through looking at the Sender name.

If you identify anything that is NOT Spam, select the message, then click the Not Spam button along the top.

I generally click the “Check all” box, and click “Delete Forever” as I finish a screen of Spam.